Taliban And Afghanistan History: The situation in Afghanistan as it is at present, it was very similar in 1996. Then Taliban had captured Kabul, today Kabul is about to collapse again.
About 20 years ago, the US leadership claimed that the Taliban regime had ended in Afghanistan. Not much time has passed and the situation is that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has fled abroad, Taliban has entered Kabul. A fear that had been hidden somewhere in my mind that the period of repression and atrocities would begin as soon as the Taliban returned, is now proving to be true. But don’t even think that the last 20 years passed very peacefully. America and its allies never had complete control over Afghanistan. Violence continued unabated… The result is in front of all of us today.
Table of Contents
What is Taliban?
Taliban means ‘student’ in Pashtun, in a way it refers to their beginnings (madrasas). The Taliban was born in a madrassa that taught a radical form of Sunni Islam in northern Pakistan. The Taliban strengthened in the early 1990s, the civil war that broke out in the post-Soviet era. In the beginning, people liked him more than the rest of the Mujahideen because the Taliban had promised that they would end corruption and anarchy. But the violent attitude of the Taliban and the brutal punishment of Islamic law spread terror among the people.
Music, TV, and cinema were banned. Men were required to keep beards, women could not go out without covering themselves from head to toe. The Taliban captured Herat in 1995 and Kabul in 1996. By 1998, almost the whole of Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban.
Where does the Taliban make money?
There is no shortage of money for the Taliban. Earning more than one billion dollars every year. According to an estimate, he earned $ 1.6 billion in 2019-20. The main sources of income of Taliban are as follows:
Drugs: $416 million per year
Mining: $464 million last year
Extortion: $160 million
Donations: $240 million in 2020
Exports: $240 million every year
Real estate: $80 million per year
Help from friends: between $100 million and $500 million in aid from countries like Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia
Who runs the Taliban? When did terror spread in the world?
The Taliban is led by a council named Quetta Shura. This council works from Quetta. In 2013, Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban, was killed, and his successor, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, was shot down in a 2016 drone strike. Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada has since been the commander of the Taliban. Umar’s son Mulla Mohammad Yakub is also with Haibatullah. Apart from this, the co-founder of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and the head of the Haqqani network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, are also part of the Taliban.
- In 2001, the Taliban blew up two statues of Mahatma Buddha in Bamiyan.
- In 2012, the Taliban targeted a schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai. Malala was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
How is the Taliban capturing so fast?
Since 2014, America has been cutting the number of troops here. The Taliban meanwhile continued to strengthen its hold. This year, when the US showed haste in its withdrawal, the Taliban got a chance. The biggest change in today and a few weeks ago is that there is not a single US fighter jet in Afghanistan. There planes fly from the Gulf and aircraft carriers. The mechanics who repaired Afghan Air Force planes are also gone. The Taliban, on the other hand, have about 85,000 fighters and are at their strongest in 20 years.
20 years of efforts in just 10 days wasted
In April, the US said it would withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Since then, the Taliban have captured areas they had not ruled for years. Almost every state capital has been ruled by the Taliban. In the above graphics you can see where the Taliban have captured in the last 10 days.
Afghanistan has been unstable for 5 decades
The state of instability in Afghanistan is more than five decades old, not two three.
- Zahir Shah got the throne in 1933. After this there was peace for four decades.
- In the 1950s, Prime Minister Mohammad Dawood began to grow closer to the Soviet Union.
- Dawood came to power in 1973 after a coup. Afghanistan was declared a republic.
- In 1979, the Soviet Army attacked. After the assassination of Dawood, a communist government was formed.
- Mujahideen continued to oppose foreign forces. In 1985, they formed an alliance.
- In 1989, the Soviets completely evacuated Afghanistan, but instead of peace, violence broke out. The Mujahideen wanted to overthrow the then government.
- The Taliban captured Kabul in 1996. Najibullah was brutally killed after being captured. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia recognized the Talibani government.
- After the 9/11 attacks, Afghanistan took swift action against the Taliban. The Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden.
- In 2002, NATO took over the security of Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai was elected the first President.
- In 2004, the new constitution of Afghanistan was made. Karzai was elected the first president.
- In 2009 the US said it would send another 140,000 troops.
- In 2011, the US killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
- In 2013, Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban, died in Karachi.
- The reduction in US troops began in 2014. Afghan security forces began to take charge. Militancy started increasing.
- By the time of 2020, the hold of the Taliban had become very strong. The US made a peace deal with them on February 29 that they would leave the country within 14 months.
- September 9, 2021: The last date before which US troops will leave Afghanistan.
Agreement between the US and the Taliban
During this time the Taliban had gained control of the capital of a province for the first time since their 2001 defeat, they established control over the strategically important city of Kunduz.
Mullah Mansour was killed in a US drone strike in May 2016 and the organization’s command was then handed over to his deputy, Maulvi Hibtollah Akhunzada, who currently holds the leadership of the Taliban.
In February 2020, a peace agreement was signed between the US and the Taliban. This agreement was reached after several rounds of talks.
After this, the Taliban started targeting certain types of people after attacks on cities and military bases, and with such attacks, they terrorized the people of Afghanistan.